Philadelphia on the Nile

I think Wright left Obama and not viceversa, he started acting up saying stupid things, the president had no choice.I know negative people always try to make him look bad. Americans who talk like sillysal, are arrogant, and think America has to be on top.Wake up we are on the verge of collapse and we need more than ever to get along with everyone.Be thankful you have an brillian ,good mannered president who can give great speeches and work hard to save your asses.

mshawarby - I think that you might want to do a little more research. Israel is not an imperial country, in fact it is the only democratic country in the region. What they are building is a "security fence" to keep the PLO terrorist out of Israel. Israel has been more than willing to work on peace with their Islamic neighbors. The problem is that the Muslims do not want the Jewish in Israel at all. And yes, it is their country - it was theiir country in Biblical times, long before the Muslims ever occupied Israel. Over the years they were expelled from their land several times and only recently (during the last hundred years) have taken back what was once theirs. Israel has many times signed peace agreements that Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Palestine have broken - killing tens of thousands of innocent civilians.

lanaone, you talk about Israelis building in their own country. First of all it's not their country because the UN has made clear where the Israeli borders are, but Israel keeps on shifting it over to take over more lans from the palestinians, so no they aren't building in their own country, and just like you're talking about Israeli Soldiers, there are children, women and men that have been killed by Israel in Palestine, in Egypt, in Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, the list goes on and on. And I think denying that Israel is an imperial power isn't very smart because Israeli history shows that it tried taking over southern Lebanon, Sinai from Egypt, Parts of Syria and Jordan. So I think a blind support of Israel by the US will only end up hurting the US, so I'm glad there is a president that is willing to look at both sides of the story and help both people and not just follow Israel blindly just to get the Israeli lobby's support.

My family and I visited Egypt and Israel as ordinary American tourists on our own and not in a tour group exactly one year before 9/11. We treated people we met nice and we were treated very nice. We were there to visit historic sites and to experience their culture. On a day tour that we took from the Red Sea town of Hurgada to the Valley of the Kings, the Nile and Luxor we noticed that the Egyptian Government had armed guards protecting us and other tourists from various countries around the world. The Egyptians were protecting us from the radicals in their own country that liked to kill people from the western non-muslim culture. In Israel we rode on a public bus from Tel Aviv to Tiberias along the Sea of Gallilee..young Israeli soldiers were on the bus carrying their rifles. They were returning home at the end of the day of guarding Tel Aviv from radical terrorists. The Israeli soldiers were very kind and helpful to us also. But there is an element in the muslim society that is quite ancient, radical and frightening. The Muslim countries will have to squash this radical and dangerous element in their society themselves It is their responsibility to do that.

Obama is in love with himself and the sound of his own voice, and thinks his sermons can change the world. Obama's trip to give a speech in Cairo will not change a thing with the radicals who are causing all the trouble. It is just another political show by Barack Obama which will end up costing the American taxpayers' a huge amount for him to go over there and expose the American president to plenty of people there who will send him home in a body bag if they get half a chance. I hope Obama doesn't give his citizen of the world speech there like he did in Berlin, Germany.

Howard Fineman should be checked for incipient Alzheimers desease. Most of us remember Obama's highly touted (by the press) speech on race as the speech where he refused to jettision Rev Wright, his mentor and spiritual guide of 20 years. It was only later, after Rev Wright proved at the Press Club that he was the hater we saw in those videos, despite Obama's defense of him that Obama threw him under the bus. We also remember it as the speech where he outed his own Grandmother as a racist to further his political career. That speech has thankfully fallen into the ashheap of bad speeches, except when endorphin crazed Obama worshippers chooses to briefly inflict it on us again. I personally expect Obama to denigrate America again in his speech, and continue the slow betrayal of Israel while he ignores the midevil nature of much of Islam. Its treatment of women, sharia law, intolerance of all other religions etc etc. etc. My only hope for this trip is that he can stay off his knees in front of any foreign Kings or Dictators!

Why so pessimistic? The President could sit idle like others have and just passively observe a bad situation continue to fester. Or, he can, in the spirit of the best of our Presidents "resolve to be masters, not the victims, of our history, controlling our own destiny without giving way to blind suspicions and emotions."

No one with any knowledge of Arab Culture or the prejudices and concerns of Muslims thinks that this speech will fix everything. But it is an excellent start. If Egypt, and particularly Cairo is the heart of the Arab world through its cultural dominance over the the Levant, Gulf and North Africa, then Jamiat Al-Qahira is the nerve center which jettisons all of that exported culture.

For the good of our nation, for the considered safety of our allies in Israel, and for the easing of repression against moderate Muslims who, in spite of decades of justification for mistrust, still respect and view America as that 'City on a Hill,' we need to push forward with a respectful dialouge.

Arabs are masters of speech, and they love grand oratory. "Inna min al bayaani la sihra!" Truely, there is Magic in Speech. Lets hope that much isnt lost by way of translation.

Part 2
With all of this history on the man you continue to think that others will see him as naïve. That is unbelievable! I see matters a bit differently. In fact, I see Israel and the Palestinians as well as the entire middle-east perplexed when approaching this President. Both sides of the aisle, Israel and the muslins realize that the jig is up. Neither side can perpetuate dishonest unfair arguments and they are equally acutely aware that he is no George W. (uninformed)Bush. They don???t know how to approach a President with such a cerebral handle on the facts instead of his gut coupled with a flood of misguided emotions. One can manipulate the latter but facts stand on their own. I think they are collectively holding their breaths in the hopes that he does not suggest that both sides kiss and make up on national television while threatening to cut off aid and support if they refuse.

As far as the, as you identify them, the incorrigibles, are concerned, I see them worried that he may annihilate their entire ability to continue breathing. I don???t see any of the fears that you see.

It makes me wonder if these are your sincere observations or are you simply trying to initiate controversial national conversation. Rather than what you see I see a tough, very tough smart US President on the world stage representing America not the wishy-washy, maybe or maybe not guy you describe going to Cairo.

Uh oh I see trouble. I have no doubt Obama because of his background has the empathy (theres that word again) to take a good shot at bridging Islam and Christianity.
It really should not be that difficult there are many similarities. The most notable is the fact the Ten Commandments appear in not just the Koran and the Bible but the Torah as well so there is a common base.
The problem is both Islam and Christianity have their extremists who know what they know and are not going to be swayed by facts or even truth let alone alter their thinking.
Bin Ladin is not going to wake up tomorrow thinking maybe it is all right for the world not to convert to Islam; Dodson and Robertson are not going to decide maybe other religions have legitimacy and stop trying to convert the world to Christianity.
I may be a small thinker but I would be satisfied if Obama would concentrate on saving America rather than the whole world.
We just got rid of a President who was a religious nut whose effort to "save Iraq leaves much to be desired we don???t need another.Come to think of it the last Presidents effort to "save" America falls short as well. Hows that for an understatement.

I agree with the Fineman article. Barack Obama is in love with his own ability to give a speech. He even told Harry Reid that his speech making is a gift. My only problem with Fineman's article is where was he during the primaries and where was he when the Race speech was being glorified while it was really a clever way of distracting the questions about him staying in Wright's congregation for so many years without complaint. After all the speeches what I see now is a president who is adopting some of the Bush administrations policies on preemptive detainment, rendition, secrecy to prohibit the ability of victims of torture to get their day in court. What the man said and what he's doing are too often not the same thing.

Obama knows that a speech in Cairo will no solve all the problems. (We still have a bunch of racists in this country even after Obama's speech in Philadelphia.) However, it is a beginning. We definitely need to match our words with bold actions, such as insisting on a just settlement of the Israeli/Palestenian dispute, and finding ways of withdrawing for Iraq. We also need to break the power of Middle East oil by developing an alternative. That will cut the funding sources of terrorists.
This will all take a long time. There will be set-backs and obstacles in the way, but we need the maturity to pesevere - and that begins with the understanding that a speech in Cairo will not work miracles.